Faith's Poetry
Hip Hip Huzzah!
I send a hip hip huzzah to a comfortable bed that you can always count on being there
To the kittens in cats that play with a string
And are there when you wake up in the morning
To your alarm clock with without you can’t start your day
To the home-made waffles your mother makes.
I send a hip hip huzzah to the platter the rain makes on your umbrella on a rainy day
To the wind is barely there so your umbrella stays in your hands
To the rainbows that come after the rain
And the unseen gold you’re reminded of.
I send a hip hip huzzah to the smells of the world
To the roses that made my perfume
To the smell that tells you the food isn’t good
To the smell of wet dog from a recent bath
To the water that covers your clothes as she shakes.
I send a hip hip huzzah to sad movies
To the cry that makes you feel better
And the person who put the bop in the bop-shoo bop-shoo bop
To the dreams that release your stress.
Huzzah!
August 27, 2003
Be Happy and the World Smiles
Think.
In great and generous minds,
To be loved is to
Be yourself.
One can tell you
The way to find a friend is to
Live the life you’ve imagined.
Turn to the heart
An opportunity
To love. Trust.
It’s the secret of the realization
That life is a gift
Together.
Taken from the 2004 Lifelines of the Animal Kingdom calendar quotes
September 4, 2003
Loneliness
Before you know what fills you
You must dig the hole
Into nothingness
Where the feelings of insecurity and newness
Takes flight into your heart
And stabs a hole you struggle to plug up
With work, friends, and love.
When the plug leaves
The emptiness returns
Like a shark following a trail of blood
The bloodlust rages
You try to plug the bathtub
But it doesn’t hold.
In the middle of a party
You listen politely
While really you’re a cape
Separated from the coast
As far as they care.
You cry, and yell, and sulk, and
“Play it cool”
But when you learn to be friends
With yourself as well as others
The loneliness picks up anchor
And sails away.
September 14, 2003
Old Friend
Hey!
Hey you!
Don’t just walk down the crossroads
Hurrying on ahead
Arms outstretched towards a star
That which I know you can reach by yourself
But will reach faster
If you let someone hold you on their shoulders
Slow down a little
Look back at me
Don’t be afraid of the past I represent
I’ve always been there
I’m friends with your shadow
Even though I should have spoken to you
We all have a road
That we all choose
But why should it just be 2-D?
I say our roads
Although they’re different
Should have multiple dimensions
So we can stay friends
I’m your “sister” cub
I sniff out your footprints
On my own path
Wishing for you to turn around
And pat me on the head
I’m your friend
Always truely
September 22, 2003
The White Door
I stare at the door
It’s a white door
You can add layers and layers
It’ll still be white
Like your spine
When you feel a ghost
Like when you’re isolated
From those who care
The door is white
And my lips are blue
I’m trapped inside
The white door
The golden key
My only hope
It lies inside
The door’s keyhole
If only I could reach it
But they’ve taken me away
October 2, 2003
Teamwork
There is no “I” in “team”
But there is “me”
And “met”, and “mat”,
And “tea”, and “ATM”
So as you can see
It’s a lazy word
Until you add the “work”
Then you get “we”
And “term”, and “more”
Possibly adding on “wet” “tear”
But overall you’ll be satisfied
Rather than working alone
T-E-A-M-W-O-R-K
No “worm”s
October 2, 2003
Season Renga
New life calls
The silent world awake
Couples soon answer
The World Grows
Love Blossoms into life
Gentle guardian
The water holds the sun
Above it’s depts.
Fallen leaves drift
On forgotten ponds
The sun sets later
Painting the trees to welcome
The harvest moon
Gray blankets fall
Fading the world’s colors
North wind’s breath
Kisses the bare trees
“Remember life”
The darkest time’s end
The peace dove sings
October 2, 2003
Faith’s Daisy
A silly game
All girls play it once
I pluck it
My birth flower
The sun in its center
Angels’ feathers sticking out
My fingers
They answer me
The petals
Out they come
One by one
He loves me
He loves me not
The petals leave
He loves me
The game scares me
I fear
The coming answer
He loves me not
My heart sinks
He loves me
Time goes on
The last petal
Is closer
He loves me not
It’s just a game
He loves me
I can’t predict
I can’t know
If it’s true
He loves me not
Words can’t express me
I want to reverse time
To before
When it was just
A silly game
October 2, 2003
Magic 8-Ball
I can feel the round surface on my fingertips as if I was holding it in my hand. But this Magic 8-ball solely exists in my head. My subject shakes the 8-ball and flips it over, slowly lifting the answer into my consciousness. Some answers aren’t desired so I shake it again, until I get the answer I like. Sometimes the same answer comes back, hinting me that this idea needs to be in my work, so I work it in. Soon the 8-ball is put back on a nearby shelf, waiting to be shaken again.
October 5, 2003
Striper
A perfect shot
Her furry face looks at me
Green eyes blazing by the flash,
The crescent slits show the time.
Politely seated on the dresser
The white paws push on her shoulders
To the sky,
The vased daisies and milk statue
Create a serene background.
The sky walls brighten her seat.
Years later
I can only dream this picture.
Her small meow echoes around
The walls she once called home.
She playfully leaps from
Fluffy pillow to fluffy pillow,
The sky walls are real.
She’ll be with me again.
Soon.
October 5, 2003
The English Horse
Dark shapes roll over long fields.
The dark opposite of their
Pillow counterparts
In the sky blanket.
Roads twist
And turn
And show no
End.
On the fields edge a forest
That stretches like a finger
Pointing
Down the road less taken.
Below the shadow
Of the finger
Many waves of dirt roll,
Each one holding
Stones of life
Inside the wave’s peak.
From the view of the sky’s eyes
A noble creature trots,
Head up,
But never within the waves of dirt.
Her age shows around her edges.
She spends her life
Alone.
October 5, 2003
Missing Oar and Dreadlocks
The lady put her child to sea
At the dead of night
The child held fearful onto the boat
As the boat drifts from the shore
Summer before the 1st grade
My ears were pierced
My hair was cut
I bought new clothes for school
The rope attached at shore
To the child’s boat
Lays loose in the water
The child cannot find an oar
My hair is a furry mess
Dreadlocks everywhere
I won’t let my mom brush it
Until I admit it needs it
Finding herself without an oar
The child reaches for the rope
But the water shakes the boat away
And she finds herself on her back
That hurts!
That wouldn’t have hurt as much
If you had let me brush it sooner
Bah!
The rope is nearing
It’s last coiled strand
The child can only sit and cry
As a wave snaps the final strand
I sit in a painful silence
After all it is my fault
The dreadlocks are out of my hair
My head a little sorer
The water once again is calm
The child can see her mother’s face
From halfway across the lake
Her love still clear across her body
My hair is short now
Free of dreadlocks that
Once plagued it
I’m growing it out again
The girl knows she must go further
I am not my mother’s doll
From this day forth
We make our own oars
November 4, 2003
Alphapoem
Zebra stood on the hill
You can see her if you try
X-ray light dancing about her
Wind whooshing through her mane.
Very important that everyone sees her
Underneath the brilliant sky
Tonight she will stand for long hours
Singing the song of how time came.
Rest not tonight, o weary one
Quail, snake, whatever you are
Peaceful slumber will come
Only after you’ve heard her sing.
Nightfall ends the Zebra’s song
Mighty sad that it did end
Love is what time hasn’t conquered
Killing love would make time stop.
Jester, don’t you laugh tonight
Imagine what the world would be
Happenings of worldly danger
Give the gift of fear for some.
Fear not, for the world isn’t lacking
Everything that makes us happy
Death will never reach love’s door
Cause for our fear has ended
Because of us and one more thing
A zebra’s song of time.
November 13, 2003
Ode to Rain
Rain that which sends
Its dancers from the sky
Cover the plain blue
And proceed to let us
Appreciate the sunny days
Oh rain that plays music
On my umbrella
Blanket the earth
With your refreshing tears
That in your joy
Reaches to touch us
Letting the lonely sea
Reconnect with its children
Rain, flicker in sunlight
Of your prism droplets
So that we may see rainbows
In every step we take
And feel serene
In this colorful world
Oh rain, know that
Your storms bring shivers of pleasure
To my spine
And these nights of the new moon
Hide your mirror puddles
Leaving me to view myself
Only on dawn’s hour
When the sun has risen
December 2, 2003
This is the Light
This is the light that blinks
Like an eye watching
In the depths of night
When no one but me
Is awake to see it
This is the light
That blinks out when I look at it
Like a person
Avoiding my eyes
This is the light
That glows for passer-bys
Like a lighthouse on the shore
Facing the dark sea
This is the light
That guides my steps
Like a beacon of hope
When I visit my elderly friend
This is the light
That continues to watch me
Like a lone firefly
Peering into my window
Before it continues on to fly
Into midnight’s sky
December 3, 2003
Paint me for “Real”
Paint me acknowledging
The people around me
My loyal fans
And the fans they carry
To cool me off
On my sky clad throne
That hides no secrets
Paint me tip-toeing
Next to a koi pond
My silk kimono
Trailing on the ground
A paper parasol
Guarding me from
The liquid sunshine
And the freckles each drop
Adds to my rosy skin
Paint me Umbrella-less
In a rainstorm
My guardian beast and I
Walking as though
The sun was no longer hiding
Behind her fluffy pillows
Enjoying our soaked bodies
Paint me as who I am
Not by what you see
But how you feel
January 12, 2004
Princess in Distress
Dear Prince
I stare at your eye to eye
Your radiant face
Still dark in my mind
Giving me delusions
Of whom you should be
Instead of whom you are
Of Prince of Illusions
Step out from your cloak
Of hidden mysteries
And let me bask
In your shining eyes
By your side
So this princess can be rescued
From the mist of loneliness
That neither of neither of us can last in
For a Happily Ever After
March 2004
Lover’s Leap
My prince, I know you
Standing at the top of the world
On the peak of the tallest mountain
Reaching out for my
Trembling hand
Your hand trembling also
As I stand one step away
Knowing the peak can’t
Hold us both
And we will fall
Into a scary but
Wonderful thing
Hoping, ever hoping
We will come out unscarred
And so I wait faithfully
For the trust in our hearts
To give us wings
March 2004
Starred Memories
The people I knew and know
Loved and lost
Are a starry sky of memories
The brightest ones ever blinking
Of them I’m thinking
Shining faces in my head
Yet some stars fade
Their pulses wavering
A shadow in the night sky
I cry out to them
In hopes my dreams
Will recall them to my sky again
Yet as stargazers know
Some won’t return
So new constellations
Could join in the sky
And old ones return
Next season
July 20, 2004